Friday, December 3, 2010

So Hanukkah started on Wednesday night and it went fantastic! My mom, brother and his fiance and my in-laws all come over to support me in my attempt to be Jewish and raise a Jewish son. I said the blessings in my best attempt so far at Hebrew, lighted the menorah, ate latkes (fried potato pancakes), taught everyone how to play driedel and gave A. his first gift for Hanukkah.

Now I had put in a lot of thought about what to give each night. I wanted it to be fun things but clearly tie into the holiday and the meaning behind it. Well, as much meaning as an almost two year old could get. This lead me to a 12 DVD series about various aspects of Judaism that Sesame Workshop (who produces Sesame Street) is releasing over the next year. Volume 2, Chanukah: The Missing Menorah, coincidentally just released just in time for Hanukkah, score!

I watched a few previews on-line and decided to buy the DVD. Now for $12.63, which is what I scored it for along with free shipping, it still seemed a little steep for a 28 minute episode but I knew A. would get a kick out of it. I was so excited to see A.'s response that I almost gave him the DVD before Hanukkah even began but withheld the urge and I'm glad I did. He loved it! He clapped along to the songs and loved to point out the puppets on the screen. Now how much he's actually absorbing of the meanings or any of the Hebrew is really any one's guess but it's not really even the point. It instead gets him use to hearing correctly pronounced Hebrew and seeing other children light menorahs too.

That being said my overall thoughts about Chanukah: The Missing Menorah is that while it is short and I wish the DVD was longer (or cheaper), the overall message and meaning of Hanukkah is there in an age appropriate version. The DVD mixes segments with well known puppets (Grover), the main characters, guest apperances and recordings of Jewish children explaining the concepts and demonstrating how they celebrate the holiday. In the end it explains in simple terms why the holiday is remembered, why it is important and how different Jews celebrate it.

My only dislike about Chanukah: The Missing Menorah is that all of the details aren't always exactly correct. The biggest example that stuck out to me was when the second explanation (with puppets) was given that Judah Maccabee lit the seven branched menorah to celebrate the Temple being reclaimed. This is actually incorrect according to most bibical scholars. The oil is believed to have been to light the ner tamid (near ta-mid), or the eternal flame, that hangs above the Ark (where the Torah scrolls are kept). The nine branched menorah traditionally used now is simply a reminder of the eight days that the oil lasted, not because it is what was originally used. Of course, while I personally understand that the point of these series is to give a basic understanding of Jewish religion, culture and traditons and is not meant to be all inclusive in details, I still wish that some of the details had been corrected.

Overall though, A. and my first Hanukkah is going fantastically and while it's new and a little scary, it's also very comforting. It just feels right.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

When I was little I loved that my Mom stayed home during the day. She watched other kids during the day and we always did the best activities. She assures me she had so many others she meant to do with us but in my memory, she was and is the perfect mom.

One of my favorite activities was when she made play dough. I loved the oddly comforting smell it makes when you cook it on the stove top and how warm and squishy it was right after it was kneaded into a ball. So I decided that I should make some for A. After all, I went to school for child development and planned daily activities for other people's children, yet I never plan any for A. So here is admittedly, the first planned activity with any specific goal (working on fine motor control) in mind.

﻿Cooked Homemade Play Dough

1 cup of water

25 drops of food coloring

2 teaspoons of oil

2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

1/2 cup of salt

1 cup of flour

Add water, food coloring and oil. Stir together. Add in cream of tartar and salt. Stir together. Turn the heat to medium and slowly add in the flour. Stir the mixture continually until a ball forms. Knead into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool.

My Commentary

So the directions state that you're suppose to stir the mixture until a ball forms. I still don't know what that means after making two batches, instead I just stopped stirring when it got stiff enough that it was hard for me to stir it. You just want to make sure it cooks enough that it isn't extremely sticky but doesn't get to the point where the color looks noticeably darker and very stiff to the touch.

Just make sure to store it in an air tight container and you should be good to go!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

So I'm aware that Thanksgiving was almost a week ago. But have I mentioned I work retail? Yeah, enough said. I've been busy trying not to stab guests with my set of electronics keys and resisting the urge to grab a bottle of wine off of the end cap and down it where the cameras can't see me.

Homicidal intensions aside, I had a fantastic Thanksgiving. The table was set nicely with actual china and besides the fact that the rolls I have made before at least a dozen times wouldn't cook in the middle without becoming hockey pucks on the outside, it really was a day to be thankful. But what am I truly thankful for? Family, friends, shelter, food and all the other things everyone always says, which of course I am thankful for, I am thankful for the following things...

The Nanny. Not only have I seen all of the eposides on re-runs about a dozen times (in fact I'm watching it as I type) I am thankful for it because it teaches me Yiddish. But even before learning Yiddish was important to me, I just liked the show. Something about it speaks to me. Words like tuchas (your butt), shlep (to drag something or yourself somewhere), shmendrik (a jerk or someone stupid), meshugener (someone who is crazy) and fercockt (all messed up) can easily be slipped into any conversation with little detection.

Chapstick. Even as I type this I'm thinking, where is my chapstick? When did I put it on last? I almost always carry one on me and put it on so much at work one would think that I thought it would make the shift go faster and my guests less stupid. I don't have an addiction, which aparently, is a very serouis thing. I just am really thankful for the tubes of it, any brand really.

DVR. I use to think people were being a little nutty when they said they loved their DVR and the ability to not only record TV shows you don't even need to be wasting brain cells on but to pause TV and rewind it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. I could go back to regular TV but it would be like once you try homemade cheese bagels, you can't even look at store bought ones.

Floss. Yes floss. You read that right. How could one not be thankful for floss? It gets the yuckyness between your teeth out and the fact that I haven't bought floss for years due to the generous amounts my dentist gives me, floss is surely something to be thankful for.

Peach schnapps. Or well, any fruit flavored schnapps. The cherry one I bought while on vacation with The Husband in Traverse City is also very, very yummy. I, by the way, wanted to put this one first but worried it would scream, alcholic a bit too much. The funny thing is that I couldn't even tell you when the last time it was that I even had any but when I do drink I want my drinks fruity enough I can't tell I'm getting snoggered till it's done.

And those are the things that at almost midnight I'm thankful for. There are other things of course that I'm thankful for but that's about all I can manage to think of right now. I'm sure as soon as I finally lay down to go to sleep I'll think of something really meaninful to be thankful for, but meh.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I have an obsession lately. Well actually, I have a lot of them but the one I'm thinking of right now is my two jumbo muffin tins I own. I adore them. Seriously, adore them. If I could bake everything in them I would. That is how much I love them.

Because of this love I find myself searching blogs for recipes I can make in my jumbo muffin tins which lead me to a simple but very yummy recipe for make ahead breakfast muffins. Which is exactly the kind of recipe I need because I'm not one of these mom's who can manage to make anything besides cold cereal and coffee in the morning. With a toddler who wakes up at 5:50 am in the morning and a job that has me getting home around 11 pm, breakfasts consisting of big fluffy stakes of homemade pancakes, hand formed sausage patties and fresh squeezed orange juice just isn't happening. That is unless we go out to eat and I'm too cheap for that.

The other reason this recipe is wonderful because it's one of those that you can just guess your way through and throw in whatever ingredients you like best. Following my recipe, which is an adaption from Cooking with my Kid, this will make 20 breakfast muffins.

I love these. They reheat really well and hold for about 2 to 3 days in the fridge. They also freeze really well (defrost them wrapped in a paper towel) and because they are the perfect portion sized and hand held, they are my new favorite thing to make with my muffin tins

Cook sausage and season to taste. Scramble all of the eggs together. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray and place one biscuit dough in the bottom of each muffin tin. Spread them out so they cover the bottom but they probably won't cover the sides. Place a few tablespoons of sausage in each muffin tin. Top with cheese and pour scrambled egg mixture in till it covers the sausage and cheese and is about 2/3 full. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees until browned on top.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I should begin by saying that I meant to post this last Friday but was too lazy to upload the pictures from my phone to photobucket because it would have required me to get out of bed. I was deathly ill, as in, I felt drunk and hadn't even had the pleasure of drinking, ill, this past weekend. From what I can remember of the weekend, it rocked. But moving on...

My favorite day is Friday but it's probably not for the reason other people love Friday. Normal people work Monday through Friday so Friday is the last day they work. I work retail. It's just the beginning of my week usually.

No, the reason I love Friday is because it's when I make challah (pronounced "hallah"). The word challah itself doesn't actually refer to the making of bread or the dough or even the bread itself, instead it refers to the piece of bread you are suppose to break off and burn for G-d. Either way, I love making it and not just because it's a mitzvah (commandment from G-d) either. No, I love making challah because it's delicious and it makes my house smell wonderful.

Now most people have a challah recipe handed down from generation to generation. A challah recipe that has been lovingly made for Shabbat (pronounced "Sha-bot" with "bot" rhyming with "tot") dinner, the dinner that celebrates the day of rest, for decades. I however, being the Jew in training that I am, don't have such luck. Instead, I'm left to try to figure out which recipe to use from blogs on the Internet.

I have made other recipes before, one with mild luck and another with good luck. Both however, are not what I'm now use to eating at Temple. It's more dense, more like Italian bread density but better. And sweeter. So I decided to try a new recipe two weeks ago for the first time. More than likely, all the recipes are great and it's simply my issue. Either way, this is the one I tried for Shabbat two weeks ago and again last week and it comes from My So-Called Knife. I've adapted the amounts of the ingredients and the directions slightly, using the rising method from recipes I've used in the past. This should make one large loaf.

In the bowl of your kitchen aid stand mixer, pour in sugar and yeast. Add warm water and allow to sit until frothy, approximately three to five minutes.

Add olive oil, honey, eggs, remaining sugar and salt to mixture. Using the paddle attachment mix all ingredients till they are well combined. Slowly add in bread flour, half a cup at a time. About the time that the flour seems like it isn't mixing in as well (usually around 3 to 3 1/2 cups of flour) switch to the dough hook and continue adding in the last of the flour.

Knead the dough using the dough hook, for 10-15 minutes until the dough is stretchy and no longer sticky to the touch.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl and allow to double in size in a warm, draft free space; usually one hour.*

After the first rise, slowly deflate the dough and knead gently back into a ball. Allow dough to rise again for one half hour.

After the second rise, divide the dough into three sections and braid it into a three strand braid. Place the loaf on parchment paper and using the remaining egg to make an egg wash, brush loaf with half of the egg wash. Allow bread to rest one more hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (if using a baking stone, put the baking stone in the oven while it preheats) and brush with remaining egg wash. Bake loaf for 25-35 minutes until golden brown on the top.

My Commentary

Overall I thought this bread was really good and much closer to the bread at Temple. It is much sweeter when eaten alone, though when you eat it with a meal, the sweetness gets lost. I had my Mom and Aunt try some versus the regular bread and my Mom and I preferred this sweeter one whereas my Aunt preferred the regular one. The Husband said he didn't care, it was all bread.

*I must make admit though, that I cannot get this stupid dough to rise like all my other breads I make do! By the end of the first hour it barely even rises and I know it isn't the yeast, because it is very frothy. My best guess would be that it uses honey versus white sugar but I'm just pulling things out of thin air here. Whatever the problem is, I'm having to resort to preheating the oven to 150 degrees, shutting off the oven and putting the dough in there to get it to double in size which still takes about 45 minutes. After that however, it behaves itself like normal dough.

Oh and I left the eggwash off (so the picture doesn't reflect an eggwash, if it did it would be shinny) because I was being lazy last week. The one at Temple does not have an eggwash either and no one there seems to mind one bit so I figured I would try it that way. I just watched the bread a bit more to make sure it didn't burn. It did bake and brown faster, only about 20 minutes without the egg wash.

I think that I will need to try this recipe multiple times before I feel like I will have even come close to getting a handle on it. Each loaf I make, of the same recipe, following the exact same steps, is so very different. It's a combination of being human and paying attention to one loaf more than another to where the planets are in the universe.

In the end though, everyone should make challah. Not because it's a mitzvah, no, because it's so very tasty and makes awesome french toast from the left overs. So go, make challah!

Friday, November 12, 2010

I'm not sure how your family works but in my family, we have to "fix" most any dish. Whether it is from a prepackaged mix or a recipe we are following, most everything needs to be fixed. The great thing of course is that it's easy to fix most any recipe with the following condiments: mayo, ketchup, any form of cheese, peanut butter and chocolate.

How easy is it to fix any dish? Easy. You just dump whatever condiment you own,whatever amount you have left, into it until you go, "hmmm yeah that's not so bad now" and then serve it up. Dry coleslaw? Add mayo. Boring sloppy joes? Add ketchup. Veggies that taste, well, like veggies? Add cheese. You get the idea.

But my ultimate favorite fix is chocolate. And peanut butter. Chocolate and peanut butter. Peanut butter and chocolate. Damn, now I wonder if there are any peanut butter cups left from the Halloween candy... no, no I already ate them all.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Not the gross, makes your stomach flip-flop, no the kind of discharge I need to talk about is The Husbands. Wait, that still sounds gross.

So The Husband is being discharged from the service. Actually he apparently already was at the end of last month. It's an honorable discharge, so it isn't as if he got caught banging a hooker while doing coke on watch or something. No. What is he being discharged for? Body fat. Yup. The military says he's too fat. I'm too fat. The Husband? He's barely fat. But it doesn't matter. This is his third strike (so this is not out of the blue and this is not a whine, this is a fact post) so he was discharged. That's the new rules.

The insane part? I cried. Why? Anger mixed with hurt. He was a good reservist for four years. He did everything and more of what he was asked to do. They messed with our lives for four years and then just like that, it ends. But then, what's that annoyingly cheery saying? When one door closes another opens? Hmm, very comforting.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Growing up, Halloween was my favorite holiday. It was the only holiday my dad ever participated in so for me, it was one of my childhood favorites. That being said, I don't go all out for Halloween or anything, I just celebrate now by picking out a costume for A. and picking up enough Halloween candy that after I eat half of it, I still have enough to pass out.

This year however, unlike last year, The Husband picked out A.'s costume. Being a Star Wars fan he picked out Yoda. His reasoning? You have to be Yoda when you're short or else it isn't that cute. Fair enough.

We were lucky that the in-laws found a Yoda costume for $4 at Goodwill. Score! While I was initially upset at not sewing a Yoda costume like I did with last years dalmatian costume, I quickly got over it. Best of all, A. looked adoooorable.

So adorable in fact that almost every single person whose house we stopped at said, "What an adorable little girl!". Um, thanks. I mean, really, what are you suppose to do besides smile and say, "He's a little boy" to which everyone always goes, "Oooh" like you're lying. Idiots.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

One night, I had one of those crazy mom ideas that everything we were eating was bad for us and I should make everything from scratch. I begin searching food blogs like a crazed woman trying to figure out how to make everything from salad dressing, pasta noodles, peanut butter to breads. I spent hours finding recipes, organizing them and reading each step.

Yes, I have issues and I'm comfortable with them.

After finding all these recipes I came to the actual mom realization that I am not those super mommy bloggers. You know the ones, the ones who by 9am have dressed and fed nine children, painted the dining room, scrapbooked yesterdays activity and baked and frosted from scratch twelve dozen vegan cupcakes for the bake sale. I'm just not that mommy. I'm lazy. So instead I decided to just pick one recipe and I decided to try the one about cheese bagels, though the recipe for bacon-wrapped potato bites called my name as well.

Having only ever made two loafs of challah from scratch before I was a little scared to try making bagels. But much to my suprise, I had some of that freakish super mommy blogger magic and they turned out perfect! My pictures, not so much, but here they are along with the recipe and my thoughts on it after making four different batches of them over the last few weeks. The original recipe is adapted from Pennies on a Platter, Cheese Bagels and by adapted, I mean I changed barely anything and have instead only added my commentary at the end.

In the bowl of your kitchen aid stand mixer, pour in sugar and yeast. Add warm water and allow to sit until frothy, approxiamtely three to five minutes. Add in salt and slowly add in 2 cups of flour, one at a time using the paddle attachment. The dough will be very sticky at this point.

Add in an eyeballed 2/3's of each cheese, mixing again with the paddle attachment. Add in the last 1 1/2 to 2 cups of flour. Switch to the dough hook attachment and use on low for about 8 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky to the touch and stretches. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and allow to double in size in a warm, draft free space; usually one hour.

After the dough has risen gently deflate the dough and divide into six (large), eight (medium) or twelve (small) rolled balls. Cover with a clean dish cloth and allow to rest 30 minutes. After they have rested, poke a hole in the center and stretch them out a bit. Let rest another 10 minutes. While resting, bring a large pot of water to boil and preheat the oven to 400F (if using a baking stone, put the baking stone in the oven while it preheats).

Once the water has boiled, boil each bagel for two minutes on each side. Pat dry with paper towel and place on parchment paper. Brush on the egg wash and sprinkle the left over cheese ontop. Bake bagels for 24 minutes or until golden brown.

My commentary

So my directions above indicate how I make bagels. I don't have any real reason why I add the things like I do besides that I do. I'm sure someone else would make them differently. Maybe you will make them differently. Either way my final thoughts are...

I use a kitchen aid stand mixer because I have horrible wrists. If you don't, you can still make them just refer to the original link.

You can use bread flour if you have it. The first time I used regular flour and while there is a slight difference, I wouldn't put a bra on and run to the grocery store just for bread flour if I was out.

When you pat the bagels with paper towels after you boil them (which is an important step, it makes them crispy on the outside and soft on the inside so don't skip it!) don't let them sit on the paper towels, quickly put them on parchment paper or they get all gross.

Oh, and perhaps it's just my mixer but when I use the dough hook for that long my bowl gets stuck so I spray the bottom with cooking spray.

These freeze nicely so make a double batch and do what I've been doing, eating my weight in them. Which if you know me in real life, you know that's a considerable amount of weight.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Okay, so I know I have said this before, but I really really suck at this blogging thing. It certaintly isn't because I don't have things I could ramble or blog about, nah, it's just sheer laziness. So let's start again with a recap and then move forward (hmmm, I'm pretty sure I've already done this at least once...)

Things that have changed:

We have a house!!! Actually we've been in it now for six months. Crazy how fast it has went so far.

The husband was left behind for deployment; though no reason was ever given why. Either way, thank G-d and please take care of the rest of his command who did deploy.

My mom is doing very well, all things considered. I continue to appriciate every day I have with her.

A. is almost two... TWO!!!

My brother met a girl three months ago and got engaged last week. Yeaaah, none of us saw that one coming.

So yeah, just a quick post tonight. I would say that I'm really committed this time, that this time I will post at least once a day, week or even once every month. But I think my track record speaks for itself. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

I dropped the Husband off a bit ago for training and have been dealing with the house by myself since. It isn't going well, to say the least. Our closing date should have been yesterday, the 31st, but we are still stuck in underwriting. I'm not really sure why and I really don't care to know the actual logistics of being stuck in underwriting for longer than normal, all I know is that aparently we're still there. Super!

Not having my husband or my house aside, life goes on. I'm trying to move my mom and younger brother right now from a 3rd floor appointment to a 1st floor one. My mom is having a really rough time moving around right now, imagine that the combination of chemo and bone cancer ontop of breast cancer, doesn't leave one feeling that energetic. It has been a very long process. They are both serouis hoarders, not the, nasty food in the fridge and rooting food on the floor kinda hoarding, the, keep every paper ever addressed to them in the last decade, kinda hoarders. That and my mom collects china patterns and my brother, well, have you ever seen a scrap yard inside a house with wires and old electronics even people my dad's age can't remember? Yeah, that's him.

But I love them both more than all their junk put together. All I know is that by the time I am done packing them both up all I want to do is relax and sleep. The problem of course is that now we have to move. I'm excited about the house of course and A. finally getting his own room but the actual idea of moving any more boxes or doing any more cleaning sounds about as much fun as trying to wrestle A. into his shoes and coat.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Okay so this is going to be brief, non-sarcastic and whiney and the largest reason right now why I'm not blogging. I'm stressed for the following reasons...

My mom has cancer... for the third time. This time, it is the most aggressive and has spread. She isn't going to die from it but she's very tired, sore and sick. I worry about her every second.

The Husband has more details about his deployment.

We still haven't closed on the house. I'm aparently not very good at waiting. I just want our house already.

My in-laws are back in the picture. Long story super short, they made some poor choices last year, we stopped talking to them, they moved back to the state and now they are back in our lifes. I am working on accepting this and moving past my hurt and anger.

So um yeah... and while I know, lots of other people have their own issues to stress them out, those are mine. And of course I have plenty of things to be thankful for (wonderful family, wonderful support, etc) sometimes it's hard to remember them all.

It all reminds me of the saying by Mother Teresa, "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much".

Thursday, February 25, 2010

I'll just cut to the chase and spill it... we found a house!!! We had our inspection yesterday and besides some run of the mill usual up keep kinda things like gutters and such, we just have to wait now for the paperwork to go thru and the house is all ours!

The actual paperwork and waiting will take way longer than actually finding the house did as it only took one week. Yes, one week from talking to our realtor to putting an offer on a house. What can I say? We were very motivated due to our time line of trying to get into a house before the Husband leaves and it seems that all of my hours spent looking at listings and neighborhoods paid off. W could quickly say no to certain listings, certain areas and knew what we could afford and where we wanted to live. That and a lot of luck.

The house itself is a four bedroom and has one and a half baths. It sounds huge and compared to our one bedroom apartment, it's a freakin mansion, but in terms of square footage it's not that huge, only about 1,100 square feet. But we're so excited. Even with it's small sqaure footage, small back yard and small kitchen, we still love it.

The best part is that all 1,100 square feet are in great condition and it's like taking a trip to the 1950's because that is definitly the last time that the house was updated. The house was actually built in 1928 but went through a huge remodel in the 50's complete with pink and brown tile in the full bathroom, green plastic tiles on the walls down in the half bath, double basin sink with drain boards on top of metal cabinets, a 1959 GE stove in fantatsic working condition and a built in vaccum (that still works!).

Now the 50's aren't my favorite in terms of house decor, though I adore the clothing styles, but living in a 50's house for several years before it can be turned back to a 20's house will be fun. I've already figured out that the kitchen will be robin egg's blue with yellow accents... at least I'm pretty sure. In the end though whenever we do start to do major remodels (so check back when A. is in high school, ha ha) we plan on doing it carefully so that we can salvage some of the vintage details so that someone else who just has to have a 1959's GE stove will get a great stove and we can get a few bucks. But until then, I'm excited to cook and bake in my 50's kitchen and call my friends on my rotary phone that's still on the wall!

Oh and I'll post pictures later of the inside of the house once closing comes around. I brought it to the inspection with us but like a dork forgot to check to make sure it had working batteries. Oh well!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

So I stalk this site called apartment therapy. I love the beautiful bright photos. It makes me crave rooms of my own filled with beautiful art work and brightly colored rooms. Rooms where toddlers, cats and husbands aren't allowed in.

Besides the home decor aspects though there is a section about cooking and the kitchen where they list different recipes, often times linked from other sites and blogs. I was browsing the other night and discovered one that was called Dead Man's Peanut Butter Pie from a great blog I hadn't ever ran across called, Not So Humble Pie.

I should have never even looked at it. I should have never picked up the already made crumble pie crust and heavy whipping cream tonight at the grocery store. I should have never made it. I should have never ate the left-over peanut butter goodness mixed with chocolate glaze before it was even chilled and firm.

But it's too late, I did and now I can literally feel my jeans getting tighter. But it was ooooooh so worth it. Go. Now. Go make this and don't even try to justify how it might some how in another universe be good for you, because it's not.

Monday, February 8, 2010

I'm sure I was the only one in America tonight watching Puppy Bowl XI with their toddler while waiting for their husband to come home with some dinner in a desperate attempt to avoid a complete meltdown instead of the super bowl. Honestly though, I enjoyed it more than last year when I did watch the super bowl. I just don't get the whole watching football thing. I don't remember the rules, I don't care whose winning and I don't understand why a game takes so freakin long. The only good thing I can think of is the oh so fattening foods you get to eat while watching it because nothing tastes better than melted cheese on something crunchy!

Puppy Bowl aside, the weekend was relaxing. Had lunch with some old high school friends and then the Husband picked up a new game for me, Bayonetta. It's beyond cheese-tastic and the idea of a stripper, demon witch fighting the hierarchy of God's messengers while in clothing made magically of her hair is quite laughable, it's also very addicting. It's a button masher in every sense; I can't even find her on the screen sometimes but as long as I haven't died I just keep hitting Y and B and hope that I get out of it okay. I know that should be appalled by the overt sexuality of Bayonetta and the objectification of women, blah blah blah, but it's a video game that doesn't require me to do any puzzles or think very hard and it's exactly what I need. Plus, if I was that skinny, tall and sexy I might consider flouncing around in high heels and a cat suit, sans guns attatched to my heels of course.

Monday, February 1, 2010

So I'm laying on the couch watching a rerun of Family Guy that I've not only seen a bunch of times but also own on DVD. Why you ask? Why wouldn't I be in bed with my husband and son (we're co-sleeping people, not our original idea but eh, it works for us)? Because I'm still having insomnia issues.

So what does one do when they have insomnia issues? Lots of things really...

Mentally decorate houses you don't own and try and figure out why on earth people let realtors photograph their houses with their dirty laundry, quite literally, laying around (at least shove it in a closet or under the bed people!)

"Shop" for said houses and bookmark hundreds of home decor stuff you'll never actually own because you have a toddler and a special cat

Log into facebook a few times but not post anything because unlike the other people on your list you don't feel the need to update every 30 seconds about boring details in your life

Flip through channels and wonder why you stop on food network after 2100 because it just makes you hella hungry and craving mashed potatoes with gravy

Look around your living room and consider doing something productive like reorganzing the toys or the book cases but decide instead to continue to sit on your ass because getting up would require you to use your brain

Consider doing some kind of exercising but figure if you're not even getting up off the couch to organize a book case you're definitly not getting up to exercise

Sunday, January 31, 2010

So I really suck at this blogging thing. I could list lots of excuses why I don't post, hectic life, up coming deployment news (different news from the first one we had a month or so ago), the holidays, but really, I'm just lazy. I'd rather lay on the couch and watch TV then try to remember my password. But let me catch up a bit...

A.'s party was fantastic! It came out exactly like I wanted it to and while my decorating and all the little details was lost on the crowd (almost all family) I was very proud. I just wanted his birthday to be special, especially considering how the Husband probably won't be here for his next one or two. I wanted to just make it special and a good memory for our family (the three of us) and it was.

A.'s party was a dessert buffet and my mom and I spent four days making all the goodies. In the first row from left to right there are chocolate mint cookie beehives with "bees" on top, mini key lime pies, lemon individual bug cakes with glaze, sugar cones decorated with ice cream toppings, chocolate individual buy cakes, lemon squares with powdered sugar and pistachio and lady finger cups. In the back row for goodies there are chocolate covered pretzels with yellow and green sprinkles, A.'s cake, three kinds of ice cream (double vanilla, double fudge brownie and mint chocolate chip), green apple liquorish, and drinks including ice water with lemon and lime slices, milk and green sherbet punch. It turned out really nice, the colors and everything. I know the Husband thought I went a little overboard, and I did, but it was fun to busy myself with A.'s party versus stressing out about the holidays.

This was A.'s beehive cake. I used the cake pan that the Husband had bought me when we had been trying for a few months for a baby with no luck. It was a lemon cake from scratch decorated with glaze and "bees" made out chocolate covered peanuts with yellow icing piped on for stripes and almond slices for wings.

A. eating his cake. It was the second time that he had any kind of cake, the first being on his actual birthday the day before. Both times he loved it and crammed it by the fist full into his mouth.

A. with his gifts. He loved the wrapping paper and the ribbon my mom put on his gifts the most.

Us. Excuse the fact that the Husband isn't smiling, A. is looking away and the, I don't even wanna say a number, weight gain I have yet to lose from being pregnant.

One of my favorite pictures of the day. Everyone but my mom and brother had left the party and we were in the stages of vaccuming the floor and A. was getting tired so the Husband snuggled with him on the couch.

After A.'s party was done we had the holidays, which with me working retail, takes some of the joy out of it followed by a new years celebration of closing that night and getting home just in time to crack open a bottle of fake juice bubbly. Even though I'm no longer nursing I'm just not a big drinker and prefer the juice kind to the real stuff anyways, nursing or not.

Which brings us to now... we're about two weeks away from starting to actually look at houses! I'm super excited, even if the Husband isn't. It isn't that he doesn't want a house, he just doesn't care as much as I do. He's a, go with the flow we'll find a house, kinda person and I'm a type A, what is the value of this property and what are the schools like, kinda person. It should be interesting!

About Me

I'm a full time working mom to my two kiddos. Peanut, a 5 year old who loves super heroes, Star Wars and his own opinions. He also happens to have a speech delay and SPD. Snuggle Bug, born in October 2013, who The Husband and I struggled through secondary infertility to have. I'm also the wife to a smart mouthed video gamer who recently went back to college. Our family is rounded out by a wiener dog and 2 cats. This blog serves simply as my on-going ramblings.